Culture Night 2026

Under the heading Everything a book can be, the audience can experience the many forms and meanings of a book – such as cultural heritage, craftsmanship, sensory experience, technology and storytelling.

The evening's programme offers a range of activities that bring the library's collections, history and expertise into play in new and surprising ways. Guests can explore, try activities out for themselves and get up close and personal with the world of books.

Guided tour

Come inside for a tour of Royal Danish Library to learn about what cultural heritage is and the great cultural treasures our collections contain. We start in The Black Diamond and from there go into the Holm building from 1906. Learn about the architecture, history, cultural activities and the work of Royal Danish Library – what we collect, preserve and facilitate. We meet up at The Black Diamond's shop - the tour lasts 30 minutes and is alternately in Danish and English.

Time slots (approximately 30 minutes):

7.30 pm (Danish)
8.30 pm (English)
9.30 pm (Danish)
10.30 pm (English)

This activity is not suitable for wheelchair users or strollers. There is 20 spaces per tour. Tickets are available in the shop from 6 pm.

For children and adults

Exceptionally for children and their adults, the library offers a creative workshop where you can create your own bookmarks. We have been at the bookbinders' workshop where we found old, beautiful materials for decorating the bookmarks. You can also design your own ex libris - a completely unique and personal mark that you can place in your books. In the library's collections, many books contain an ex libris and we have found examples of some of the most beautiful ones that you can get inspired by.

Music

Experience the award-winning duo Dybfølt interpret evening songs from The Folk High School Songbook as they transform the Atrium in The Black Diamond into a cathedral of sound, using the room's 12-channel speaker system.

Every beginning hour they play a new 20-minute concert, recorded on a historic Nagra reel-to-reel tape recorder, then slowed down to half speed. The intimate chamber music changes character into a dreamy soundscape on an architectural scale, where echoes of the concert are manipulated live and thrown around between the four balconies of The Black Diamond.

The concert installation runs from 6.00 pm to 12.00 am.

Times (approximately 20 minutes):

At 6.00 pm
At 7.00 pm
At 8.00 pm
At 9.00 pm
At 10.00 pm
At 11.00 pm

Three decades of sound and literature

Step into DR-arkivet's time machine and travel back to the 30s, 70s and 90s. In three rooms, you can explore the sounds, moods and literature of the decades.

Listen to selected audio tracks from DR-arkivet and explore the works published during the three decades. Which voices filled the radio, which books were on the shelves – and what do they tell us about their time?

The Women's Reading Association is reborn!

Stop by The Old Reading Room, where the Women's Reading Association is reborn on Culture Night. The Women's Reading Association (1872-1962) gave women access to the literature and newspapers of the time, and also ran a women's hotel and restaurant.

The reading society was a meeting point for many prominent women who were active in cultural life and the feminist movement. On Culture Night you can experience the atmosphere of the society for an evening. We will show our library's materials from the history of the reading society, such as books, letters, crafts and pictures, et cetera. Come by, have a chat about the Women's Reading Society and discover the history for yourself.

Sara Alfort talks about notable women of the Women's Reading Association

Experience Sara Alfort talking about female writers and artists who were part of the Women's Reading Association environment (1872-1962). Sara Alfort will give talks in the atmospheric The Old Reading Room, which we are transforming into the Women's Reading Association for one evening with pictures, sound and books and more from the association's history.

At 7.00 pm, Sara Alfort will talk about the authors Victoria Benedictsson and Erna Juel-Hansen and at 8.00 pm, she will talk about the artists Elise Konstantin-Hansen and Sophie Holten. Sara Alfort's talks will be based on her three books, Damer der fik nok, Damer der var for meget and Da træerne voksede ind i himlen. There is a limited number of spaces for the two lectures.

Times (Approximately 30 minutes):

At 7.00 pm
At 8.00 pm

Get a glimpse behind otherwise closed doors

Come and experience some of the many exciting books, manuscripts, scrolls, palm fronds and other treasures hidden in Royal Danish Library's large collections when the Research Reading Room opens. Act as reading room user for an evening, get your own archive box and try your skill at deciphering Gothic handwriting, foreign characters and much more. The library's experts are ready to bring you into the fantastic world of books.

Times (approximately 30 minutes):

At 6.30 pm
At 7.30 pm
At 8.30 pm
At 9.30 pm
At 10.30 pm
At 11.30 pm

Please note – no outerwear, food/beverages or bags may be brought into the Research Reading Room due to the archival materials on display. This activity is suitable for adults. There is space for 20 people at a time. Tickets are available in the shop from 6.00 pm.

The Conservation Department

Books contain much more than words – hidden in the back, or tucked between the pages, there lie invisible stories waiting to be discovered and told.

At Culture Night you can see some of these hidden stories that the Conservation Department at Royal Danish Library encounters in their work with binding and restoring books.

You will also have the opportunity to see and touch many of the materials and tools they use in their work.

Try computer games from the collection

Computer games are cultural heritage and an important part of the library's collection. On the occasion of Culture Night, we are bringing out Danish games that are, in one way or another, about books and reading. Visit the game station and try out fun and different computer games.

Meet Nota service

How do you read a book if you have a visual or reading impairment? Stop by Nota Service and hear more about how to read a book with your fingers – and try it out for yourself. The activity runs from 6.00 pm to 10.00 pm.

Visit the house's exhibitions

On Culture Night, The Black Diamond's exhibitions are open for everyone. Explore The World Around Us, which examines how we have seen and understood the world through photography. In Photography Now! you will encounter Danish contemporary photography with new perspectives on photography as an art form. You can also visit TREASURES, which shows a selection of works from the library's collections.

Light project

At both entrances to The Black Diamond, the artist collective Båll and Brand's light installation "Tidsrum" on Slotsholmen can be experienced. Tidsrum connects Royal Danish Library with the War Museum, the Danish Parliament and the Danish Jewish Museum on Slotsholmen through a combined light installation, where each entrance is marked by a simple formation of light cones that form Roman numerals in the space. The numbers function as chapters in a shared narrative – not as text, but as physical signs of light standing in the architecture.